When Jesus sent the Twelve out to proclaim the kingdom, He told them not to acquire money, extra clothing, or even basic provisions for their journey. But why would He send His messengers out seemingly unprepared?

Was this a lesson in poverty? A command for how ministry should always operate? Or was Jesus accomplishing something much greater through these unusual instructions?

And what do we do with the apparent differences between Matthew's account and Mark's, where the disciples are specifically permitted to take things Matthew seems to prohibit?

As we continue our verse-by-verse journey through Matthew, we'll look beyond the list of what the apostles could and couldn't carry to consider what Jesus was teaching about the kingdom, those sent to proclaim it, and the King who sent them.

Because sometimes the most important part of an instruction isn't what we're being told to do, but what it reveals about the One giving it.

Unshackled Life Podcast
Real talk about faith, freedom, and following Jesus.

Why did Jesus send the Twelve to Israel first? What did He mean by the lost sheep of Israel? And why did He command them to heal the sick, raise the dead, and freely give what they had freely received?

As we continue verse by verse through Matthew, we begin examining the King's instructions to His apostles in Matthew 10:5–8. But understanding these instructions requires us to look back at what moved Jesus to send them in the first place.

In this teaching, I explore the connection between the lost sheep, the promises of God in Ezekiel, the miraculous authority given to the apostles, and the compassion of the King who sent them.

Are we reading this passage as instructions about ministry, or are we missing something much greater about the One giving those instructions?

Join me as we continue through the Gospel of Matthew.

Raw. Real. Rooted in Truth.

What exactly is an apostle? What authority comes with that calling, and how much of what we associate with apostleship actually comes from Scripture?

As we prepare to work through Jesus' instructions to the Twelve apostles in Matthew 10, I begin with an overview of the entire commission and then take a closer look at something in the opening verses that raises some important questions.

There are assumptions about apostleship and spiritual authority on both sides of the continuationist–cessationist debate that I believe deserve to be challenged. And one of the Twelve presents a particularly interesting problem for some of those assumptions.

What does it mean to be commissioned and sent by Jesus? What does it mean to be given authority? And what can we legitimately conclude when God uses someone in ministry?

Let's examine the text in context and consider what it actually tells us.

Coming home is one thing.
Learning what it means to be home can be another.
In this final episode of the multi-part answer to “To Whom Does the Soul of the Prodigal Belong?”, we turn to a passage that became deeply important to me as I wrestled with that question: Colossians 3.
But this episode isn't only for the prodigal who wandered away.
It's for everyone who has entered the family of God.
What does it mean to seek the things above while still living here? What do we do with the parts of our old lives that followed us home? Where do grace, obedience, surrender and change fit—and what happens when following Jesusstarts sounding like another list of rules?
You do not need to hear any of the previous episodes in the series first. “Now That We’re Home” stands completely on its own.
Real talk about faith, freedom, and following Jesus. Raw. Real. Rooted in Truth.

Matthew names the twelve apostles in Matthew 10:2–4. Mark names them too. So does Luke—and Luke gives us another list in Acts.There's just one problem: the lists aren't identical.Does that mean Scripture contradicts itself?

In this episode of our verse-by-verse study through Matthew, we put all four lists side by side and follow the evidence. The questions lead us to something bigger than identifying the Twelve: How should Christians respond when we encounter something in Scripture that we don't immediately understand?

We don't need to pretend the question isn't there. But an unanswered question isn't automatically a contradiction either. We can examine the evidence, distinguish what the text establishes from what is merely possible or probable, and continue trusting God while we keep looking for answers.

Questions are okay. Doubts are okay. The question is what we do with them.

Jesus sees the crowds—and He sees more than a crowd.

In Matthew 9:35–10:5a, Jesus looks upon people who are harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd, and His response is compassion. The harvest is plentiful, the laborers are few, and Jesus tells His disciples to pray earnestly for workers. Then, as Matthew moves into chapter 10, Jesus calls the Twelve and gives them authority to go.

This transition also gives us another glimpse of a major theme running through Matthew: Jesus is greater than Moses. Moses needed others to share the work God had given him, but Jesus Himself gives His disciples authority and sends them into the harvest.

God sees the broken, hurting, confused, and lost. His response is not indifference. He has compassion—and He invites His people to participate in what He is doing.

Matthew 9:35–10:5a, verse by verse.

What happens when you know God says you're forgiven—but you still don't feel forgiven?

For a prodigal carrying guilt and shame, coming home doesn't necessarily make the feelings disappear. You may still feel dirty. You may still remember what you've done. You may carry shame over what was done to you—or over the ways you responded after someone else hurt you. And when that shame doesn't immediately lift, it can become easy to wonder whether God's grace actually worked.

In this episode of the Unshackled Life Podcast, Dalyn shares from his own journey through brokenness, spiritual error, and the desperate attempt to somehow become “clean enough” for Jesus to love him again.

Being sinned against doesn't make you guilty of someone else's sin. And being wounded first doesn't make every response to that wound right. But whether the shame comes from what you've done, what someone has done to you, or what you did out of your own brokenness, shame doesn't get to decide what is true.

What happens when what you feel about yourself collides with what God has actually said? Which one gets the final word?

This episode stands alone, but is part of the “To Whom Does the Soul of the Prodigal Belong?” Q&A series.

If Noah's Ark landed in the Middle East, how did kangaroos end up in Australia without leaving a trail of fossils along the way? Is this proof the Bible is a book of fairy tales, or is the question hiding a flaw in logic?

In this episode of The Unshackled Life Podcast, Dalyn responds to a skeptic's pushback regarding animal migration, fossil evidence, and the engineering of the Ark. Instead of playing endless rounds of internet whack-a-mole, we step back to evaluate the actual logic and historical theological options that change the entire conversation.